I decided to try and put some of what I have learned to good (?) use.
You Did is my oldest song, recorded in my living room with my crappy Tascam mic (MXL, really). Everything has changed in the song since then :-) except the lyrics themselves. The VSTs have changed, the FXs have changed... But is the song better?
Here's the original version:
https://soundcloud.com/divinegravity/you-did-feat-shallabal-kgb
And here's the new version:
https://soundcloud.com/divinegravity/you-did-feat-shallabal-2013-1
Which one do you like best? Why?
Showing posts with label VST. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VST. Show all posts
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Goal tracking - update
I went into a shopping spree.
I decided that I needed better sounds and some awesome synths to complement some of my music. I had to take out flutes and violins from one of my songs because they sounded so wrong :-) Synths I need because I like electro and I plan to make more, with some layered guitars and stuff. So I went for Komplete Elements from Native Instruments. It's got all the basic sounds I need, plus some awesome synths plus a sample engine and also guitar effects to complement my Line6 POD if I need to. For $60.
It came with a voucher so I decided to buy The Mouth from the same company. Turn your voice into anything: beats, sounds, ... Can't wait to try it :-)
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle: a bass guitar. Yes! A found a Peavey Grind (new: $600) for about $130 used. I plan to replace the crappy midi stuff in my songs with some direct input bass and trigger/mix samples into that to get some better sounds. Can't wait to try it as well :-)
Budget wise, I was down to $270, minus Elements ($60) minus Mouth ($60) minus the bass (130) and I'm left with... $20.
I still need a good reverb plugin. Although I have been testing a few of them, I can't say I'm happy with what I see :-( Valhalla still makes more sense and looks easier to use. I'd go under my budget for the year, and we haven't reached end of April yet :-) We'll see. I might pull the trigger if I continue to struggle with adding space and context into my mixes, although thanks to The Recording Lounge podcast, I have learned that addind delay instead of reverb might just do the trick in some cases. More later :-) (maybe...)
I decided that I needed better sounds and some awesome synths to complement some of my music. I had to take out flutes and violins from one of my songs because they sounded so wrong :-) Synths I need because I like electro and I plan to make more, with some layered guitars and stuff. So I went for Komplete Elements from Native Instruments. It's got all the basic sounds I need, plus some awesome synths plus a sample engine and also guitar effects to complement my Line6 POD if I need to. For $60.
It came with a voucher so I decided to buy The Mouth from the same company. Turn your voice into anything: beats, sounds, ... Can't wait to try it :-)
Finally, the last piece of the puzzle: a bass guitar. Yes! A found a Peavey Grind (new: $600) for about $130 used. I plan to replace the crappy midi stuff in my songs with some direct input bass and trigger/mix samples into that to get some better sounds. Can't wait to try it as well :-)
Budget wise, I was down to $270, minus Elements ($60) minus Mouth ($60) minus the bass (130) and I'm left with... $20.
I still need a good reverb plugin. Although I have been testing a few of them, I can't say I'm happy with what I see :-( Valhalla still makes more sense and looks easier to use. I'd go under my budget for the year, and we haven't reached end of April yet :-) We'll see. I might pull the trigger if I continue to struggle with adding space and context into my mixes, although thanks to The Recording Lounge podcast, I have learned that addind delay instead of reverb might just do the trick in some cases. More later :-) (maybe...)
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Goal tracking
Update on the goal tracking for 2013: out of $430, I just took out $160. I'm now left with $270.
Valhalla Room? Bass guitar? Komplete Elements from Native Instruments?
Valhalla Room? Bass guitar? Komplete Elements from Native Instruments?
Drums are in!
I made my choice for a Drum Virtual Instrument that I can trigger from MIDI through my drumset or use predefined tweakable grooves: Addictive Drums by XLNAudio.
It's one the standards with Steven Slate's, EZDrummer, BFD2 and a few others.
Why AD? Well, I get the kits I need (I added the ReelMachine pack for electro sounds), I get the customization I need. I tested it and it doesn't suck out a lot of resources. And I like the way the drum doesn't sound "BIG" like a lot of others VSTs do. BIG sounding drums may sound big all right, but will most likely be hard to fit into a mix.
Price? I got both the VST + the bundle for under $160 :-) If you wanna know how, subscribe :-)
Next: replacing all the crappy drum sounds in my music, and see if it makes a difference.
It's one the standards with Steven Slate's, EZDrummer, BFD2 and a few others.
Why AD? Well, I get the kits I need (I added the ReelMachine pack for electro sounds), I get the customization I need. I tested it and it doesn't suck out a lot of resources. And I like the way the drum doesn't sound "BIG" like a lot of others VSTs do. BIG sounding drums may sound big all right, but will most likely be hard to fit into a mix.
Price? I got both the VST + the bundle for under $160 :-) If you wanna know how, subscribe :-)
Next: replacing all the crappy drum sounds in my music, and see if it makes a difference.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Goal tracking
I said I would not buy for more than USD500 of gear/stuff for my studio in 2013.
Boy is this gonna be hard! :-)
I needed a second mic stand so that I could track acoustic guitar right off the bat without having to circle around the room for 20 minutes setting everything up (see this post for why that's important). I bought it for a bit less than USD 70 including shipping. A nice Samson BL3, like the other one I have.
So that's USD430 left.
On my buy list, there currently is:
God forbid something breaks. Do I get a break? :-)
Boy is this gonna be hard! :-)
I needed a second mic stand so that I could track acoustic guitar right off the bat without having to circle around the room for 20 minutes setting everything up (see this post for why that's important). I bought it for a bit less than USD 70 including shipping. A nice Samson BL3, like the other one I have.
So that's USD430 left.
On my buy list, there currently is:
- Addictive Drums by XLNAudio: my drum samples suck bad. Drums and bass are the most important things to get right in modern music. AD gets the job done for a very reasonable price. I have my sight set on the a nice bundle of AD + the Reel Machine ADPak with electro sounds
- Valhalla Room reverb plugin: the guys over at http://www.homerecordingshow.com have been raving about how good this plugin is; why buy a reverb? I can't hear a bad EQ or a bad compressor (yet?) but I can definitely hear a bad reverb. Plus the guy who makes it (Sean Costello) is really cool.
- A bass guitar; yes, I can't play the bass, but the sound I get with my crappy sample and the keyboard is plain horrible. A real bass, even a cheap one, either direct in or through my Line6 PocketPOD will definitely sound better
God forbid something breaks. Do I get a break? :-)
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